


Glad You Came

by Gypsywriter135



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, No Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-15
Updated: 2013-04-15
Packaged: 2017-12-08 14:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/762514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gypsywriter135/pseuds/Gypsywriter135
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The others finally discover Jack's kleptomania. They are not amused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glad You Came

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MewWitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MewWitch/gifts).



> A sort of sequel to the amazing [MewWitch's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MewWitch/pseuds/MewWitch) story entitled "[Of Wooden Horses and Hoarding](http://archiveofourown.org/works/670780)". It's truly amazing and you should all read it. This was written with their permission, of course, and I hope it measures up to how wonderfully beautiful the story is!
> 
> Not beta'd or proofread.

It takes them all almost three decades before they notice.

A glass here, a flower there. A shirt from North’s workshop, one of Sandy’s pillows from his Dream Ship. There’s a few elves who have gotten stuck in odd places looking for misplaced utensils or tiny bells. Bunny actually loses a few eggs one Easter; he still doesn’t know what happened to them. It’s a good thing they weren’t his best, otherwise he’d have been angrier than he was. Tooth’s private collection of teeth have a few missing, and Sandy swears he had an extra pirate flag for his Ship somewhere. 

They never say anything, really, because it is possible that they misplaced the object, lost it, or simply don’t care enough to care about it. When you live as long as they do, sometimes the little things just don’t matter.

But after three decades, they start to notice a pattern. More things go missing; these more sentimental to them. Sandy actually loses his spyglass, the one he had from way back in the day. One or two of Tooth’s Memory Boxes turn up gone. North’s hat from back when he was a bandit is not anywhere in the workshop. Bunny’s best set of paints disappears from the Warren.

Jack doesn’t have any possessions besides his clothes and his staff, which he has with him ever second of every day. So he has nothing to report.

The others don’t even suspect anything until Jamie makes mention that he’s lost his robot that North made especially for him, or that Sophie’s favorite stuffed bunny is missing. No other children are missing anything from their homes, save Cupcake whose collection of unicorns has come up one short.

No one knows where these things disappears too, but once it comes to their attention that everyone is missing _something_ , they start an investigation.

Their findings are shocking.

They’re standing in Burgess, right behind Jack’s pond. There’s a hole in the ground, deeper than a grave and wider than an elephant, covered with a think, clear sheet of ice. Their stolen possessions stare back at them from underneath. Jamie can see his favorite pair of skates peeking out from under a rather large snowboard.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bunny mutters. He steps forward and cautious taps the ice with one of his back feet. The huge sheet doesn’t even crack.

“So this is where all our stuff has been going?” Tooth worries her bottom lip, flitting up above to get a better look at the contents inside. She spots one of her golden teeth from Midas and sees Sandy’s favorite pillow nestled under Bunny’s huge drawing pad.

“There must be good explanation for this,” North says, scratching at his beard as he is wont to do when deep in thought.

Sandy nods, forming a tiny sand figure of a snowflake, a pair of skates, hand, and a question mark, followed by a lone snowflake and another question mark.

“Where _is_ Jack?” Sophie asks, frown on her face as she carefully steps onto the ice, much to Jamie’s chagrin and going against Bunny’s protests. The ice doesn’t even give under her slight weight and she wanders around, head bent down as she looks through. She lets out a laugh and points at something below her. “Hey, there’s my Nerf Gun I lost when I was ten!”

Jamie scowls. “I _told_ you I didn’t take it!”

“Yes, yes, I’m very sorry, brother dear,” Sophie rolls her eyes, grinning. “But you have to admit, you were the most likely suspect.”

“I was not!”

“Alright, kids,” Tooth laughs, flying back over to the others. “Let’s not get into a fight.”

“Right,” North agrees. “We must find Jack, have him explain.”

“Yeah,” Bunny growls, eyes narrowed as he spots his favorite paint pallet in the pile. “Let’s go find the little bugger…”

Sandy starts gesturing up above, pointing and making exclamation marks and a snowflake. The others look up in time to see Jack distractingly land on his pond, ice forming under his feet on the water, despite the warm weather. The teen is fiddling with something in his hands, staff tucked under his arm, unaware of his friends as he begins to walk towards his pool of stolen goods.

“Oi!” Bunny calls, taking a huge leap over a clump of bushes and lands a few feet from the startled Jack. Jack’s head snaps up, eyes wide as he drops the necklace and box his hand on a patch of ice.

“Bunny?” Jack asks, hand moving from the defensive position on his staff when he sees the pooka. He grins. “What’re you doing here? I thought you had an errand to run with the others or something? At least, that’s what I could get from your stone eggs. You should really teach them to communicate better; playing charades is only fun for the first few times.”

The giant rabbit glares. He points to the necklace Jack had dropped. “What’s that?”

Looking down, Jack quickly snatches up his prize, hiding it deftly in his hoodie pocket. He gives Bunny another smile. “Nothing of import, really.”

“Was that the necklace Justin gave me on our first anniversary?” Sophie’s voice comes out from behind the bushes.

Jack stiffens as the others, Jamie included, come into view. His blue eyes rake over them all, then back to the hiding place, hidden beyond their view. Bunny can see the wheels turning in his head as the spirit quickly works out what’s happened.

Sophie, still quick and full of energy even thirty years later, dashes forward onto the rapidly freezing water and snags Jack, pulling the startled spirit onto solid ground and grabbing his treasure from his pocket in one quick motion. Jack looks shocked as he ends up facing the others.

“It is!” Sophie declares. She shoots Jack a look. “What’re you doing with it?”

“And why is my shark teeth collection in your hole?” Tooth asks.

Sandy crosses his arms and forms a golden shooting star, then a misshapen circle that no one can quite figure out.

“My amethyst amulet?" North says, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re the one who took my grandmother’s wedding ring?” Jamie accuses.

“I can’t believe you just snatched my best back pouch!” Bunny exclaims.

Jack’s mouth turns to a thin line as his jaw clamps shut. He avoids the glare that Bunny is giving him and the expectant looks that the others direct his way. 

“Well?” Bunny prods, and Jamie can see Jack’s posture shift, the way his feet turn ever so slightly and how his hand grips tighter on his staff. He’s known Jack for thirty years; Jamie knows exactly how Jack works when he feels cornered.

“Jack, please?” Jamie asks softly, giving his best friend a small smile to show that he’s not mad. He may be a little mad; he’d wanted that ring to give to his wife when they got married, but he couldn’t find it. Now he knows why.

What he can’t figure out is _why_ Jack would take these things. He has no need for them; they’re just sitting in this hole.

“Why are things in hole?” North prompts gently, taking a step forward. Jamie notices that Jack tenses, and he knows that the young Guardian is barely resisting the urge to take off.

“Jack?" 

It takes Jack a moment, his teeth grinding in his mouth, before he unlocks his jaw and speaks.

“What do you want me to say?” he asks. He twirls his staff around, the ground around him freezing and a light snow begins to fall over everyone. Jamie glances up, not being able to help the small grin that falls over his face; winter was still his favorite season.

“I’m curious as to why you’re takin’ all our stuff and hiding it in a hole behind your lake,” Bunny retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.

“’Cause I haven’t gotten the chance to move it to the cave in Antarctica yet,” Jack replies. He continues to avoid everyone’s shocked faces.

“Wait,” Tooth says. She flutters over Jack, who takes a stiff backwards from her outstretched hand. “There’s more?” 

Jack’s face does a strange, slightly amusing dance as he tries to get his emotions and acts under control. “No?” he tries.

“Jack,” North scolds gently.

The teen lets out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. Yes, there’s more. What do you want me to say?”

“Well, ‘sorry’ would be a great step forward,” Bunny drawls, making it sound like it’s obvious.

“Then maybe return our things?” Sophie adds softly. Sandy nods in agreement.

Jack bites his lip, and Jamie realizes there’s something wrong. He groans. “Oh, Jack…”

The winter spirit winces.

“What?” North asks, confused. “What is wrong now? Jack will return things and then explain why he is thief! All is well, we will forget ever happened!”

“I don’t think it’s gonna be that easy, mate,” Bunny says, finally catching on. He glares at Jack a little more.

Sandy claps a hand over his face.

“Oh no,” Tooth gasps. “Jack, you didn’t…”

“It’s not my fault!” Jack defends, glaring back. “I can’t help it!”

“Wait, I am confused,” North interrupts. “What is happening, I am missing something.” 

“Oh, please,” Jack rolls his eyes. “You’re the only one who knew.”

Now everyone turns to look at North, who is still confused. He gives a giant shrug. “What? Jack is taking things, but there is more and I don’t know what it is.”

The winter spirit rolls his eyes, and Jamie can see his stance shift again; this time, it’s more defensive, as if he expects one of them to go after him. After all these years, it still hurts Jamie to see him react that way, and not for the first time, Jamie wonders what happened to make Jack like this.

“North?” Tooth questions.

Suddenly, Sandy makes more golden symbols. Jamie watches a snowflake appear, followed by a scroll that Sandy unwinds, pointing to North.

“The Naughty List?” Sophie correctly interprets, if Sandy’s happy nod is anything to go by. 

“Why do you think I was _on_ the Naughty List?” Jack huffs, still poised to flee. His eyes widen. “ _Am_ ,” he corrects.

North rubs a hand down his beard, thinking. “Is true, has been on Naughty List for past few decades.”

“I thought you wiped the slate clean?” Tooth asks. 

“Stealing isn’t exactly a ‘Nice’ thing to be doing,” Bunny says. Jack sends him a glare. Bunny ignores him. “Why haven’t you mentioned this earlier?” he turns his attention back to North.

“I do not know what children do to end up on Naughty List,” North defends. Jack snorts in dark amusement.

“What?” Sophie frowns. Sandy makes a question mark. “Why not?”

“Much too busy making toys!” North exclaims. He looks perplexed at his friends’ faces. “What?”

Sandy makes a few music notes, followed by two separate lists and a question mark.

“But what about the song?” Jamie asks, Sandy nodding.

North waves a hand. “Pah! Is just song! Yetis do lists and make final check.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jamie sees movement. He turns his head to see Jack silently creeping away, back to them as he edges out to the lake.

“Jack!” he calls, turning everyone’s attention back to the teen. Jack halts in his escape, body tensing.

“Whoa there, mate!” Bunny says, glaring and hopping up to block Jack’s path. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Um…” Jack looks nervous, clutching something to his chest in the hand not attached to his staff. Jamie seems to be the only one who notices and he sighs, stepping forward and holding his hand out.

Jack frowns and then deflates. He hands Jamie his prize: the keychain off of Sophie’s lanyard.

“Jack,” Tooth scolds.

“I’m sorry!” Jack exclaims, posture stiffening as takes a step backwards. “I can’t help it!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bunny growls, causing Jack to whip around. Next to Jamie, Sandy worriedly waves his arms, trying to tell Bunny to stop.

“I don’t mean to take them!” Jack defends, and Jamie can hear the slight tremor in his voice. He and Sophie share a look, the woman biting her lip.

“You don’t mean to?” Bunny repeats. Jamie watches as Jack’s stubbornness rises, watches his shoulders square.

“It’s just stuff that no one cares about, anyways!” Jack cries, voice rising. It begins to snow, the wind picks up around them, ruffling their clothes, fur, feathers, and sand. “No one will miss the stuff anyways!”

“That still doesn’t make it right!” Bunny snaps, the two coming nose to nose. “You don’t steal stuff!”

Sandy slaps North’s leg, gesturing urgently to the two.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” North says, and Jamie is intensely relieved. Jack and Bunny stare at each other for a moment before taking a step back. North strides up to the two, clapping an enormous hand on Jack’s scrawny shoulder. “There is no harm done. Jack, just return things, all will be good. Those that cannot, we can give to other children or to Good Will store.” 

Jack deflates once more, hanging his head.

“Alright…” he mutters, grip on his staff tightening. Jamie knows that he wants to call the wind, but instead, the teen shrugs off North’s grip, walking over to the pit. The others follow, watching as Jack waved his staff, causing the sheet of ice to disappear. The others surge forward, digging through the mess of objects and pulling out their possessions. Jack stands at the edge, watching with a saddened expression. Jamie joins him.

“You alright?” he asks his oldest friend.

He gets only a shrug in response.

Happy cries come up from below as things are found.

“I was wondering where tool set went!” North exclaims.

“I looked everywhere for this pallet!” Bunny grouses.

Tooth flies too and fro, diving under the pile and coming up victorious, starting her own pile on the side of her things.

‘Hey, Jamie!” Sophie yells. “I found our old board games! The ones we got into a fight with mom over!”

Jack winces at that, and Jamie reaches out a hand to lay it on the teen’s shoulder. 

“Sorry,” he says, and Jamie gives him a reassuring smile. 

“It’s okay,” he responds. “It was a long time ago. The only reason we wanted them then was because we could sell them and get some fast cash.”

Jack frowns, watching as the others take back their things, making their own piles and muttering as they go.

It’s not until everyone leaves, arms laden with goods with the promise to return for a trip to Antarctica, that Jamie turns to Jack.

“Why’d you take the stuff?” he asks quietly.

Jack shrugs, but Jamie can see the defeat in his stance. “I dunno. It started so long ago. I was tired of people walking through me, and one day I snapped, grabbed something right out of a kid’s hand. After that, it just… sort of spiraled. I never took from the kids, never, just the older teens and the adults, people who wouldn’t believe in me anyways.” 

“What’d you take?”

“Stuff,” Jack tells him with a shrug. “Anything they wouldn’t miss. I started out with a hole in a tree, but it got too full, so I moved everything down to the little hide out I have in Antarctica. Old books and toys, CDs, cassette tapes, video tapes, photo albums,… took a TV once-it was on the lawn with the garbage-but I had no way to plug it in…”

“But why’d you take the things to begin with?” Jamie is confused. “You’re not a bad person, Jack. Even if some stuff was on the lawn, it seems like most of it wasn’t. And the stuff from Sophie, me, and the others? That’s not garbage….”

Jack runs a hand through his hair and lets out a frustrated sigh. “I just… that stuff… it was stuff that people _wanted_ , that held special value to them at one point in their life. And I could _touch_ it. Do you have any idea what it’s like to go centuries, thinking that you’re a ghost because no one will talk to you? The things I took… I could touch, feel, _hold_ onto them. It made me feel… made me feel grounded.”

Jamie feels his heart breaking. Poor Jack…

 “And I guess a part of me hoped…” Jack continues, giving Jamie an embarrassed look, ducking his head and clutching his staff as he glances at his now mostly empty hole, “that maybe, if the person missed it enough, they’d come looking for it…”

“And find you,” Jamie finishes, frowning. He reaches his other arm over and brings the teen into a tight hug. Jack stiffens at first, then melts into the embrace, wrapping his arms around the man.

“I didn’t think about it, really,” Jack goes on. “Taking the stuff from you and every one else. But old habits die hard, and it wasn’t like it was stuff that you used or needed anyways, and you weren’t supposed to find out, but I just wanted something to remind me of you guys, just in case… in case…”

Jack’s hold on Jamie tightens. Jamie understands. For all of Jack’s bravado and cockiness, the teen is extremely insecure. He had come to Jamie often over the years, at first afraid that Jamie would stop believing in him ( _as if that could_ ever _happen_ ), and then fretting over the Guardians growing tired of him, getting annoyed with him, thinking that he was worthless and kicking him out.

That would never happen either, but Jack is still not convinced. But Jamie understands a little better now; Jack took things from the others, in case they left him, so that if they _did_ - _they would_ never-then they’d have to track him down and find their things. This way, Jack would not only have reminders of his friends, but a way for them to keep coming back.

“Jack, listen to me,” Jamie says softly. “No one is going to leave. Ever. We all love you, and you can come to us anytime you’re feeling down or just need to talk something out or vent, but taking things, no matter how insignificant they may seem, is wrong and not the way to go about things.”

“I know,” Jack whispers. “I’m _trying_ , but everything’s just so _nice_ and everyone always seems to not care about it after a long time and I just…”

Jamie hugs him impossibly tighter, still afraid after all these years that he’ll break the skinny teen. But Jack is strong, and he clutches Jamie tighter. The two stand like for a moment before Jack pulls away, stepping backwards and pulling his hood up to cover his face. Jamie chuckles to himself as Jack wipes conspicuously at his face and turns back to the hole in the ground. He makes a gesture.

“Aren’t you going to take your stuff back?” he asks, and Jamie can make out the hint of blue eyes as Jack glances at him.

Jamie steps forward, looking down at his lost possessions and makes to jump down, to rifle through them, to take back what is rightfully his, but he stops. He takes a moment to think, to try and place himself in Jack’s shoes… er, position. He tries to think about going so long without anyone to talk to, without someone to confess his fears and desires, to have so little and want something that he may never get. 

The Last Light sits there and wonders, for the first time, what it must have been like for Jack to go so long without a hint of companionship; to be so desperate as to think that taking knick-knacks would somehow make someone notice him, whether it be in a good or bad way.

And it’s at that moment that Jamie, forever wise, takes a step backwards. He gives a startled and wide-eyed confused Jack a blinding smile that has had Tooth cooing on several occasions.

“Keep ‘em,” he says, and Jack looks like he’s going to topple over. He waves an arm at the hole. “If I need them, I’ll come looking for them. But right now… right now, they’re yours.”

Jack continues to look confused, but he’s smart. Jamie can see the wheels turning in his head as he stares back at his first believer, can see the second that what Jamie has just done, has just said, sinks in and makes sense.

Sophie is calling as she returns from her car, the fluttering of wings is heard in the distance, followed by the jungle of bells, accompanied with the floating strands of golden sand. Beside them, the earth shudders, a portal opening.

But Jamie is staring at Jack, who has a small, grateful smile on his face.

As the others return and they all pile into the sleigh for a trip to Antarctica, Jamie catches Jack’s eye. Bunny is scolding the young Guardian, and Sandy is sitting with his arms crossed over his chest. North makes additional comments from the front, and Tooth’s wings flutter occasionally in a worried but clearly slightly upset manner. Sophie is examining one of her old dolls, frowning.

But Jack… Jack is succeeding in holding down a smile, and when everyone grows tired of trying to make Jack feel guilty, Jack sinks down into his seat.

“Thank you,” he mouths silently to Jamie.

Jamie grins as Sandy gives him a questioning look, catching their exchange.

Because now… Now, Jamie had yet another reason to keep believing in Jack Frost. And Jack Frost had yet another reason to keep visiting his first believer.

The two were forever bound to each other, in this life, and in whatever lay beyond.

Because Jack didn’t just take Jamie’s stuff; Jack had stolen a part of Jamie’s heart, unknowingly. And that wasn’t something that Jamie wanted back anytime soon.

**Author's Note:**

> After reading MewWitch's story, the idea wouldn't just leave me alone. I HAD to write this. I hope it's good enough for you!
> 
> This was supposed to be mainly about Jack, but somehow, Jamie wanted some screen time and took over. I actually liked writing him, so I may do it again soon...
> 
> Also, I have this headcanon that North doesn't actually keep track of who gets put on the Naughty and Nice Lists and that the yeti's do it. North just delivers the toys.


End file.
